Old Logger Path and Wild Roots Gets a Lil' Wilder in Loyalsock State Forest

Wild Roots Gets a Lil' Wilder with Tropical Storm Debbie

Hi! My name is Erica and I am the owner and guide of Wild Roots Guides, offering hiking and backpacking treks in PA, and focusing on empowering women in the outdoors.

I have been using Purple Lizard Maps to plan my adventures both professionally and for my own recreational purposes for several years – so when Purple Lizard reached out to me to propose we form a partnership, it was absolutely a no-brainer. Each hiker attending a Wild Roots backpacking trip now receives a Purple Lizard Map for that area!

I want to take you along on one of our Wild Roots adventures, the PA Hidden Gem backpacking trip, which follows the remote Old Loggers Path (OLP) in Loyalsock State Forest. For this trip each hiker carried a Purple Lizard Loyalsock Map so they could see the trail and potential route options.

The name “PA Hidden Gem” was inspired by the fact that OLP gets a bit less attention than its far more popular sister trail – the Loyalsock Trail. OLP truly is a gem, and I planned this trip to highlight an area of PA wilderness that many would otherwise never know existed in their figurative backyards. This trek really kicked the excitement up a notch, though, when Tropical Storm Debbie (August 2024) decided to join the party.

Two weeks out from the Hidden Gem trip, I would never have bothered to check the weather. It’s too soon. The weather is sure to change, it always does. But right now the weather was changing to almost perfect! Many folks from the trail community in the area were gearing up for the Eastern States 100 mile trail race just 40 miles west of OLP, and were raving about the low 50 and high 70 degree weather. Absolutely perfect backpacking weather.

As the date of the Hidden Gem trip approached, however, there was a strong shift in forecast. Enter tropical storm Debbie – bringing buckets upon buckets of rain. The once small mountain streams were overflowing with water rushing into every available side gully, and gullies were dumping several feet of water into creeks running through towns like Waterville, Slate Run and Trout Run. Pine Creek Valley predicted flooding beyond what they’d seen in decades. Just a few dozen miles to the east, Wild Roots hikers were hoping to complete a backpacking route that would be fording a body of water called “Pleasant Stream”. Sounds pretty easy, right? Should be pleasant. Having lived locally to this area for a few years, however, I knew this would not be the case. Pleasant Stream has a history of disastrous flooding, and now we would have to ford it without any way of knowing how bad it could be until we’d arrived. Weather is often a major component of the backpacking adventure - enduring the elements - it's what we do. But this was something else.

I emailed the group – Hikers, we have options. Reschedule? Reroute? …Cancel? I don’t take canceling scheduled trips lightly, but I also wouldn’t want anyone feeling obliged to put their safety at risk. Over the course of 48 hours, a group of 6 became a group of 4, and the remaining hikers were geared up and ready to re-route. We would carry on with our adventure as best we could, with safety as our priority.

Time to break out the Purple Lizard maps! As a commercial hiking guide, Wild Roots treks are reviewed and approved by DCNR nearly a year in advance. We can’t just up and move the route without advance notice. I’ll need to work with the route we’ve submitted, and find viable emergency exit routes if the stream is too flooded to ford safely.

Unlike Google Maps, Purple Lizard Maps actually shows Pleasant Stream road – a gravel road that bisects Old Loggers Path in the southern half of the loop. I call DCNR – Is this road section open for car and foot travel? The answer was yes, but a bridge to Masten, where my hikers plan to camp, is out. No worries, we will plan to travel CCW to avoid fording that stream until it’s had a chance to go down. There are also two other access roads to drive into Masten to bypass the decommissioned bridge.

We all gather in Masten camping area and 4 hikers begin our trek along Old Loggers Path. As we began the journey, it was evident that wet feet would be the theme of this weekend. Gorgeous sunny skies, amazing temps in the low 70s, and wet feet. The trail was a stream, and streams were plentiful. We observed about 4x the number of streams compared to what we would have expected to see based on our Loyalsock Lizard Map! These would come to be referred to as ‘ad hoc streams’ as the day carried on.

One of many 'ad hoc' streams to be navigated - normally this is a dry section, but after Hurricane Debbie there was lots of water running everywhere.

As we approached the confluence of Rock Run and Yellow Dog Run, I shared with the group that I’ve always wanted to jump into the pool at Yellow Dog Falls. It’s always been a bit too chilly for a dunk to be enticing enough, but today could be the day! Here’s to hoping the water levels have gone down enough.

There is an amazing camping area right at the falls, where we planned to take a long break to absorb sights and sounds of nature. Upon arrival, my hopes of a plunge were dashed – there would be no jumping in today – it was raging (of course). The waterfalls were absolutely on point, though, and we enjoyed our time there anyway.

The confluence of Rock Run and Yellow Dog Run is a Lizard Spot on the Purple Lizard Map, which means "This Could Mean Anything" in the legend, and seasoned Lizard Map users know that the little lizards are worth chasing to find beautiful places.

Streams were running into trails in places.

The trail continued to offer plenty of obstacles to make our route interesting. Each hiker had their own take on which route through the mud and running water would be best, which was cool to see. It truly was a “choose your own adventure” sort of day. We took a quick break at Rock Run Vista before making it to camp for an early bedtime.

The Purple Lizard merino wool socks made by DeFeet are fantastic hiking socks! Wool dries out fast and is perfect for all temperatures. 

After a relaxing night at White Doe Vista, we packed up camp in the darkness of early morning to hike by headlamp. We trekked 2.5 miles, still navigating mud and running water along the trail. It warmed my heart to see hikers turning around to shine their light on the path of the hiker behind them – helping guide their footing as to avoid slipping off the little log, or little rock, keeping their feet from sinking into the wet trail. 

Breaking camp before dawn takes dedication but the mountaintop sunrise reward is well worth the effort!

We reached our vista by sunrise (also a purple lizard on the map), and it did not disappoint! We listened as the forest came to life with bird song, sipping coffee, and taking in the colors of sunrise.

 Sunrise vista!

We still had several miles ahead, though, and many feet were feeling the wet miles of the previous day. We were sure to take periodic stops to treat hot spots (a precursor to blisters) and check our Purple Lizard maps to orient us. Wet feet always means increased risk of blisters, but this group was on it.

Taking care of your feet is the key to a successful hike!

Hiking poles are super helpful when you're stepping on logs and rocks to stay out of the water.

As we approached the Pleasant Stream Rd crossing around mid-day, we had our first encounter with other hikers! They were all traveling the opposite direction, so we asked for updates on the Pleasant Stream ford. We had varying answers from “It was gnarly! Took us over an hour!” to “It wasn’t too bad, moving quick in some sections, up to your waist & slow in others”. Our group would make our own decision, however, based on our own comfort level. When we reached the road, the group had varying degrees of painful feet that have been wet for over 36 hours.

 Road walks offer a welcome change from technical trails and stream crossings.

Happy and full with the adventure thus far, the group decision was to take one of ‘emergency’ exit routes planned. Pleasant Stream Road will take us about 2-3 miles back to our parked cars in Masten, PA, and we could avoid further distressing the wet, soggy feets.

What a wild whirlwind this all was. Having seen the tragic flooding that occurred in so many parts of Pennsylvania, I am grateful for the flexibility of these women to alter their plans on such short notice with our safety in mind. Despite the wet trail and a stream we determined not to ford, it was a wonderful weekend in the woods surrounded by brave, wild women.

One last picture of the beautiful confluence of Rock Run and Yellow Dog Run, a destination worth hiking to any time of the year!

Stay wild,

Erica aka Manifest

Erica is the owner and guide ofWild Roots Guides